In praise of ... Crossrail

The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Friday November 24 2006

Government procrastination over London's Crossrail was wrongly described as prevarication in the leader below. To procrastinate is to delay. To prevaricate is to deceive.

Ken Livingstone argues that Crossrail is even more important to London than the Olympics. For once, the mayor understates his case.

By 2025, London's population is expected to grow by 300,000. Its tube and railway infrastructure is hideously overcrowded. A fast railway connecting Heathrow, the West End, the City and the Isle of Dogs is long overdue. Yet 17 years after it was proposed, the government continues to procrastinate.

The transport secretary, Douglas Alexander, says he wants to hear what the Lyons review on local taxation has to say about it, though Sir Michael is unlikely to mention Crossrail at all. Then, when the Commons committee examining the Crossrail bill recommended that trains stop at Woolwich in south-east London at a cost of £186m - a fraction of the total £15-16bn price tag - Mr Alexander vetoed it, saying Crossrail must go ahead without Woolwich or not at all.

These delays mean the crucial question of Crossrail's funding remains unresolved. Some fear that the Treasury, alarmed at the burgeoning cost of hosting the Games, now wants to put off the work until after 2012. That would be a colossal mistake, not least because the benefits of Crossrail more than outweigh its cost: the government estimates, conservatively, that it will boost GDP by £19bn. Next month's pre-budget report is an excellent opportunity for Gordon Brown to commit Treasury funds so that work can begin in 2008. When the capital can get to work, the whole of the UK's economy benefits.